


After Everything

by Sarcastic_Metaphor



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Genji is mentioned, Hanzo is a Sad Boy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 09:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11552607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Metaphor/pseuds/Sarcastic_Metaphor
Summary: Akande Ogundimu has known Hanzo Shimada for a very long time, and what they wanted most was what they could not have.





	After Everything

**Author's Note:**

> I took some creative liberty with the timeline because trying to stick to canon was exhausting, but I hope you enjoy.

Akande couldn't help but laugh in the midst of battle. He's waited so long to feel the thrill of fighting, of life and death, of being _alive._

He was in a city north of Numbani, with the buildings and streets around him in ruins.

And according to Talon, a secret Overwatch recall had been initiated while he was incarcerated, and so many former agents in one place certainly would've made him turn an eyebrow. But right now, they were less than flies buzzing in his face. Akande swatted one away, the green cyborg he recognized from years ago. He was faster, stronger, more balanced, but Akande still had his gauntlet. There were others too: the girl who could zip through space (and Akande will not be so lenient to her this time), an American cowboy, a woman with a freeze-gun, a woman soaring in a Valkyrie suit, an omnic monk, and the _gorilla_ (much to his absolute displeasure).

But he would not lose this time. He would succeed because he was not alone. He was out of the loop for a long while, but he was well acquainted with Widowmaker, Reaper, and the newly admitted Sombra. And they were quite the team.

_“It seems as if they have their own sniper.”_

Widowmaker’s voice buzzed to life in his ear.

An arrow landed in the pavement where Akande stood only seconds ago. It was a mere blur in the corner of his eye, but still- a sniper with a bow and arrows. He laughed again, the idea was as novel as the rest of the rag-tag group of ex-Overwatch agents.

He spoke through his communication link. “I can confirm their sniper.”

He blocked the bullets of the cowboy, tossing shattered concrete debris at him until he was forced to take cover. Another arrow fell from the sky and landed between his feet. Akande frowned. For whatever reason, this sniper was choosing non-lethal shots.

With his unarmed hand, he pulled the arrow from the ground. The steel tip glowed blue and the synthetic fletching glinted in the light. Akande eyed the arrow carefully, hardly giving notice to the girl zipping around him once more. This arrow was familiar. _Very_ familiar. He swatted the girl aside, hardly caring where she fell, and looked up.

Akande’s eyes grew wide in disbelief.

 _Hanzo Shimada_ stood on the roof of the nearest building, silhouetted by the sunlight but still unmistakable. _Of course,_ he thought, only Hanzo would be skilled enough to wield a bow in a modern battle.  

The world felt as if it were slowing to a stop, every sound and shout becoming muffled to the point where Akande couldn’t even hear his own breathing. Almost without thinking, he leaped into the air, only planning his descent at the last moment.

He fell with a heavy thud on the rooftop about twenty feet behind Hanzo, safely out of view from the others. And all of a sudden, he could feel his heart hammer to life in his chest.   

Without turning around, the archer spoke, “I did not think we would ever meet again.”

His voice was low and rougher than when Akande first heard it. But it was still the same man. Akande’s breath caught in his throat as Hanzo slowly turned around and stepped away from the ledge, out of sight from below.

His hair was greyer, his jawline decorated with a graying beard. But that tattoo glistened with the same beautiful art and power as years ago. Glancing upwards, Hanzo’s expression was guarded, almost cold. He still carried tension in his shoulders.

Akande shrugged almost helplessly, “I would have sought to reconcile with you if I were not incarcerated.”

He stepped closer, just enough to hear Hanzo’s brisk, bittersweet chuckle. He closed his eyes briefly, as if remembering their former time together. When he opened them, his beautiful brown eyes were tinged with nostalgia, and maybe even regret.

“You still wanted me? After everything?”

Akande was silent for a moment. He looked down at the arrow still in his grasp, before slowly holding it out for Hanzo to take back.

He confirmed, “After everything.”

But Hanzo didn’t move to take his arrow back. He looked on edge, almost nervous. Akande’s grip on the arrow tightened, and his hand fell to his side.

He finally admitted what was weighing on his chest for years. “I wish I was more patient with you, Hanzo. I should have known better.”

He saw the well-worn knuckles of Hanzo’s hand grip tighter around his bow handle. The archer straightened his back, as if to make himself appear taller.

“We were both quite different back then.”

Akande nodded, secretly relieved that after everything and so much time they were able to still agree on something. They hadn’t spoken in years, but his memories of them together were still so painfully clear.

He could still remember when they first met.

* * *

 

_*Roughly 20 Years Earlier Because Overwatch Has No Consistent Timeline*_

Hanamura, Akande decided, was a beautiful place. The cherry trees were in bloom, bathing the town in pink petals and a lovely fragrance. Although it was a great city and cultural hub, there was a more traditional touch to some of the buildings. It was colorful, quaint, and looked more like a painting than anything in real life.

He would have loved to come sooner than his twenty seventh birthday, and especially outside of business. But he was there nonetheless on his father’s behalf to personally ensure the delivery of one of their highest-grade (and most expensive) prosthetics to a member of the Shimada family.

It was a custom built arm and the recipient, an older gentleman, seemed immensely pleased to replace his aging prosthetic. This of course, pleased Akande, as having connections to such a wealthy and powerful family could do his own some good. But before he left, he was invited to meet the two young sons of Sojiro Shimada. Akande, of course, could not refuse. He was lead to a sort of training grounds within the family compound, and there _he_ was.

His ink black hair flowed down his back, his stance was somehow regal and poised even as he was panting and sweating from his training. And to top it all off- it was _hand to hand_ fighting, something Akande too enjoyed immensely.

Pausing their fight, the younger son greeted him so casually that compared to the rest of the family, it gave Akande whiplash. Then the younger son fled like a little bird, claiming to be hungry. The older son grumbled about his brother’s disappearance, however, clearly displeased. But he still greeted Akande with a formal bow, which he was quick to repeat. He had to remember his manners, after all.

But he happily pointed out his interest in martial arts. The older son, Shimada Hanzo, laughed and challenged him to a match, promising that he was unlike anyone Akande had ever sparred against.

And he was.

While Akande was strong, Hanzo was fast; his inky black hair quite literally giving him whiplash. But it was an exhilarating match that ended when Akande had his back on the mat and was somehow staring up at the sky.

Loss was a strange sensation that he had not felt for quite a long time. But he supposed that it was then, with the sunlight illuminating Hanzo like the true victor he was (and several cherry blossom petals comically stuck in his hair), that Akande could not help but want to be near this wonderful man seven years his junior.

* * *

He made sure to keep in touch with Hanzo personally after their first encounter.  Akande excitedly returned to Hanamura a year after his first visit under the guise of a regular check-up on the prosthetic he previously delivered. He stayed later than planned so he could go to the festival held in Hanamura with Hanzo as his guide. He fondly remembered the younger brother, now with green hair, snickering and teasing them as if they were children.

Hanzo was just a little more eager to escape his brother after that. But once alone at the festival, Akande saw the way Hanzo’s cheeks heated ever so slightly when they were close, and how he eyed the rippling muscles beneath Akande’s clothing. But he did want to be careful with Hanzo. He was younger and unarguably a _little_ sheltered from experiencing any form of attraction.

He was so well-trained to behave prim and proper, as if he were a true prince. But he had his moments where his true character showed. Like with his brother, and how he laughed at his own stories before he’d even begun to tell them.

At night, the sky was illuminated with countless fireworks and the city was alive with the sound of music and the scent of food cooking in every stall. Akande almost didn’t want to leave when his father called him and demanded that he return. In a bold move that could have ended with his ass on the ground again, Akande pressed the lightest, quickest kiss he could to Hanzo’s cheek.

He could tell it was the right thing to do when Hanzo personally invited him back to Hanamura mere weeks afterwards.

A dance or sort soon blossomed between them. They sent each other gifts, called each other, visited when their schedules aligned. It went on for several years, but unfortunately, nothing lasted forever.

* * *

He suddenly lost both his connection to Hanzo and his arm within the same year. Hurt, lost, and lovesick he began wandering. Akande was desperate for something to fill the thrill of sparring. Akande even used his money to travel to Japan, searching Hanamura for Hanzo. But for reasons unexplained to him, Sojiro Shimada and his two sons were gone. The way the attendant answering the door said it, “gone” could have implied either a regular business trip or death.

He was given no answers after that. And no matter how much it clawed at his heart to think of Hanzo as dead, Akande knew that the crisis had already claimed many lives.

He continued to send messages to Hanzo, even holograms, in the hopes that he was alive and would return from wherever he was. But months of silence from his beloved after losing his arm eroded Akande’s hope like a stone in a raging river. So Akande went back to wandering, at last finding his soon-to-be mentor in Numbani. And it was in Numbani he found his thrill once more, except this time in the form of crime, even if he wasn’t exactly proud of it at first.

Eventually, his need for satisfaction overruled his sense of morality. When he defeated his mentor and took up the mantle of Doomfist, Akande found an even greater purpose- to give humanity conflict and elevated mankind to the next level of evolution. He would make the world stronger.

It was funny, that it was then that he again encountered Hanzo Shimada.

* * *

He found Hanzo hiding from his clan in Numbani, dressed in civilian garb. It was night, the stars washed out by the brightness of the city, but Hanzo was unmistakable. Akande found him in the fringe of the city: older, hungry, and ragged from being on the run from his own family.

Before any excuses could be offered up, Akande was pulled into a hug with Hanzo clinging desperately to him.

“I wanted to find you, but I had no time. They were constantly sending assassins after me…”

Akande did not have the heart to ask who “they” were, or to be angry with Hanzo’s sudden disappearance. He was too busy being engulfed in the relief of finding Hanzo alive. However, he was dually horrified to realize that Hanzo was afraid that he would be mad for leaving without word.

In that moment, all he wanted was to hold and to spoil and just to  _be_ _with_ Hanzo.

But Hanzo hadn’t eaten much in several days and that demanded Akande’s attention before anything else. After the first hot meal and shower Hanzo had in weeks, they shared a bed that night, sleeping close.

He didn’t speak much about what happened to force him on the run, and Akande didn’t press. But he still clung onto every little detail, piecing things together the best he could. Hanzo had a copious amount of blood on his hands, something that greatly bothered him even in his upbringing surrounded by crime. One night, while Hanzo was drunk, he let slip that Genji was crying the last time he ever saw him, and that Hanzo “regretted it”. Akande understood that Hanzo had hurt his brother, but never asked about it.

The first time they sparred again in years, the match was closer but Hanzo once again had Akande flat on his back. Instead of feeling the bite of failure, he laughed. The sight of Hanzo standing above him was so familiar, he couldn’t help it. He’s wanted to be this close for so long…

* * *

They left Numbani together for a while after their reunion. The public hoped that perhaps Doomfist was gone for good, but no- he was finally taking Hanzo to his home. While he knew his family was less than happy about his streak of crimes, he wanted Hanzo to see where he grew up.

An assassin sent for Hanzo’s head came soon after.

Even though the two of them combined were able to easily dispose of the pest, Akande could see how much it worried Hanzo to add to the danger in his life. But still, together they ate takeout in dingy hideouts, ran from the law, and woke up every morning next to each other. They cleaned each other’s wounds and gambled in seedy back alleys for money when things grew desperate. But Akande noticed how Hanzo could not shake the habit of looking over his shoulder, nor he could hide the mornings when he had tears streaming down his face from nightmares.

After the third assassin left Akande suffering more than a few bruises, he woke up one morning to an empty bed. On the nightstand was a hologram photo depicting them sitting together and a note.

Hanzo explained that he left so his own burdens could not endanger Akande. But he promised that he still loved Akande.

_Loved._

In all their time together, Akande never heard Hanzo admit that he actually _loved_ him. He was both furious and heartbroken. Not furious at Hanzo, never, but at his family, and the world they must continually struggle in. But- no, no… Akande steeled his resolution.

This only helped to solidify his philosophy. He would show Hanzo that he was strong enough, and that conflict could only make him stronger.

* * *

Years passed after Hanzo’s departure and Akande was alone once more. Instead of focusing on his pain, he utilized his skill to extend his power and reputation far beyond the borders of Numbani. He became known across the world, defeating both those who hoped to take the name of Doomfist from him, and those seeking to stop him. He fell into the ranks of Talon, where his experience, power, and intellect elevated him up the ranks faster than anyone else in the organization. With him acting as a newly admitted leader, where he went with Talon they were hardly ever confronted. In his wake, cities were rebuilt stronger and people were left believing they survived catastrophe. Those who were weak were forgotten.

The agents he sent out in sent out in secret to search for clues of Hanzo’s whereabouts always returned empty-handed.

Eventually, after a close brush with the combined power of both Overwatch and national armed forces, and he needed to recover. He had to lay low and away from the spotlight Talon was gaining. It was risky going so far, but he wanted to see the cherry trees in Hanamura again. He was easily recognisable in broad daylight, but not so much at night and disguised as a tourist.

Once there, he discovered that the Shimada compound was largely unkempt, understaffed, lacking the most powerful of its original clan, and ridiculously easy to sneak into.

This was where he met Hanzo again. He was standing silently in the unruly garden, staring at the castle. Akande stuck to the shadows, curious.

Suddenly, Hanzo spun around and launched an arrow at Akande’s direction. He dodged, and quickly stepped into the moonlight. Hanzo almost dropped his bow in shock.

Akande assumed they would have a happy reunion, or any sort of reunion. He even kept the hologram Hanzo left behind, feeling the weight of it in his jacket pocket. But... Hanzo looked almost upset to see him.

It was the first major argument they had. Hanzo was _yelling_ at him, insisting that Akande just forget about him. He could see the strain in Hanzo’s words too. The way his chest heaved, the way he was rapidly losing composure, the way he no longer cared to keep his voice low.

It was the first time Akande practically screamed at Hanzo. “Tell me _why!”_

He yearned and ached for this man for so long, only to be pushed away yet again. He was unafraid of Hanzo’s criminal background and activities. He was willing to be by Hanzo’s side. He just could not fathom what created the barrier between them.

Hanzo was silent for a long moment. “I am not worthy of your love...or compassion.”  
  
Akande, startled, was more than willing to prove him wrong, but the stubbornness he once admired was now working against him. Hanzo did not want to compromise.

“Why push me away? I-”

He was going to say he _loved_ Hanzo, but the alarms finally went off, and the sparse security team interrupted them. They fled, both greatly upset, and parted ways soon after.

Only three months later, he was defeated by Overwatch and thrown into prison to rot.

* * *

 

_*Present Time*_

The scent of burning buildings and the shake of gunshots and explosions brought Akande back to the present. To the new Hanzo Shimada standing before him.

“Time has changed us both. While I now search for redemption, you still seek conflict…”

Akande’s gauntlet curled into a clenched fist at his side. Voices buzzed in his ear, and he quickly shut off his comm link.

“And what are you doing? Aligning yourself with Overwatch? Even in prison, I heard of the crimes clinging to their underbelly, hidden by their glowing figureheads.”

Akande sneered, “They act so high and mighty, but all they have ever done was hinder humanity’s growth.”

Hanzo quickly bit back, “That was the former Overwatch. They are different now.”

“How so?” Akande was now less than a few feet away from Hanzo. He could see the wear and tears in his clothing, sewn and expertly kept, and the relentless ferocity in his eyes.

“They give me… hope, that I may become a better man.”

The battle below them was quieting. Wth Akande missing from action, Talon was most likely going to withdraw soon.

Hanzo hesitated. “But if things were different, I do believe that we could have stayed together.”

He did a good job of hiding it, but Akande could see the hint of longing in Hanzo’s eyes. He imagined the same look in his own as his fury subsided. He _still_ felt as if he should be reaching to take Hanzo’s hand.

His voice was barely higher than a whisper. _“How different?”_

Hanzo himself looked unsure. His attention was drawn away from Akande for a mere second, enough for him to noticed the device in his ear, his own communications device. Hanzo took a step away, closer to the ledge.

“Just… if things were less complicated. If we both chose to compromise.”

The roof they stood on shook, becoming less stable.

“I am sorry, Akande. I do not want to fight you.”

By now, both Talon and Overwatch were most likely looking for them. Time was once more growing short. Akande was furious that once again, the world was forcing them apart. Oh, how so little some things changed.

He sighed, “Neither do I.”

Akande pressed the arrow into Hanzo’s hand, and while he was distracted, he leaned down and pressed his lips to Hanzo’s own. There was a distinct lack of passion, nothing like how they were. It was more of a farewell kiss. With Hanzo starstruck, Akande jumped off the roof without another word and into the dying fray below. Talon was on the retreat as predicted, and he could make his excuses later. With the fight behind him, Akande resisted the urge to look back. Because if he did, he’d be beyond tempted to return to Hanzo.

But he- and several other Talon members- went on. They split into smaller groups to hide more easily. Akande lead his group to his old hidden hideout near Numbani. He was pleasantly surprised to see it untouched by the years, despite the dust that settled in every crevice and corner.

He opened the creaking door to his old bedroom. Making certain that he had privacy, Akande removed his gauntlet and slowly sat on the floor. Feeling with his fingers, he found the outline in the concrete floor that could be lifted by an exceptionally strong person. Lifting the crumbling block, he was half afraid that what was hidden beneath would be crushed.

Thankfully, beneath the floor, in a little hole, sat a perfectly intact hologram pad. It was old but clean, as if patiently waiting for Akande’s return.

He pressed the little ‘ _on’_ button, and the image of younger versions of himself and Hanzo sitting beneath a blossoming cherry tree flickered to life. He smiled faintly in the dim light.

If only things were different.

 


End file.
